Driver Confidence

[strad]

Caito said in the Camber thread:

Sometimes you can get more time from driver confidence than from suspension performance.

I have noticed for some time now that the Red Bulls, the McLarens and Ferraris are really good at securing the driver in the car, where the lower teams are not so good. When you look at the in car shots of the Sauber or HRTs and the like, in many cases their legs particularly their left leg flops about rather loosely. Having done some driving I can tell you driver confidence in the car is paramount.
I can also say that not feeling well secured in the seat affects that confidence.
I have been wondering if those drivers couldn't gain a tenth or so if their legs weren't flying around in the cockpit.

[xpensive]

How can you possibly tell if a driver's legs are flying around in the cockpit strad?

[tathan]

Well you can see their knees on the onboard cameras. Not much else though.

[bl79]

An interesting thought. IDK about specifically their legs flopping around but generally I think it is advisable to trade ultimate cornering performance for improved controllability and confidence. If a driver doesn't feel comfortable in the car and with the car there is almost certainly time to be had I think. A bit like Senna in the '94 Williams.

[Paul]

I remember seeing a bit with Rosberg about how Mercedes had to modify his seat adding some leg support so he could operate the pedals better.

[marcush.]

formula 1 cockpits are not very roomy to start with but a seat has to be a rather snug fit to be comfortable under heavy g loads .I remember Brundle (?) talking about his surprise sseing Kobayashi sitting long time in the car on the grid.

the seat has a build in separator for the upper legs as the cornering gs would give you unpleasant hurting knee to knee contact otherwise.The big issue is you need some dof to be able to get in and out of the car.
But of course you will design the seating positiuon in a way the driver sits relaxed in the car at speed and does not need to try and pry his leg somewhere to get a stable seating..

As for the driver confidence I think the support of the main body and feet is most important to get a good feel of the car but is this influencing the speed of the driver in F1? I very much doubt this.In years long gone drivers jumped into a f1 car ,cut of the boots(!) to fit into it and stillö were instantly quick.Fatigue is something different ...but then you had to perform thousands of gearchanges as well and that would wear you out no matter how good your seating position was.

driver confidence is inspired by car predictability for the driver .If the car does constantly match the drivers expectations then its inspiring .If it does weird things when you go near or over the limit then you will shy away from those limits.

[strad]

the seat has a build in separator for the upper legs as the cornering gs would give you unpleasant hurting knee to knee contact otherwise

Yes,,,that's why they wear knee pads. If you'd look, the Ferrari's, McLaren, RB, have a nice padded yoke to hold those knees (I think that is what you are talking about), but the lesser teams others don't have a large or well defined yoke. My Point. They have small little ones that do not hold the drivers legs as tightly.
I sometimes pose these things as a question when there really is no question.
One of the places these lower teams could gain a few tenths is to pay more attention to such details.
Please look at the in car of the different teams...the Mclaren drivers and Red Bull guys are rock solid in the car. Sutil's left leg on the other hand gets tossed around like a rag doll. Perhaps some teams have the equivalent of what they call in a road car a "dead pedal" and others don't..If not in a case of saving weight ,,I'd suggest the more secure driver will more than make up for a few grams of titanium.

[Earnard Beccelstone]

Look at the 'Jackie Stewart drives the xxxx' videos on youtube.

"Feel" and "confidence" are constant themes in his assessment of the various F1/Indy cars.

Cockpit layout and space, driver comfort and driving position are also common themes. All of these affect the driver's confidence in the car and his ability to extract the maximum from a car.